Report on women's reservation bill tabled in parliament

Amid protests by the Samajwadi Party (SP), Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the standing committee report on the long pending women's reservation bill was tabled in both houses of parliament Thursday.

Parliamentarians of SP, RJD and JD-U, which have been opposing reservation of 33 percent of seats in parliament for women, were up on their feet as soon as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shahnawaz Hussain tabled the report in the Lok Sabha.

There were similar scenes in the Rajya Sabha when Congress leader Jayanti Natrajan tabled the report.

The standing committee has strongly recommended that "reservation for seats for women is a valid and necessary strategy to enhance women's participation in the decision/policy making process".

“The department related standing committee on personnel, public grievances, law and justice headed by Jayanti Natrajan MP, Rajya Sabha has presented its 36th report on the constitution (108th amendment) bill, 2008 popularly known as the women reservation bill in Rajya Sabha on Dec 17, 2009,” said a release issued by the Rajya Sabha secretariat.

“The report has also been laid on the table of the Lok Sabha on the same day,” it said.